RIP Sid Vicious

[tiger_rick]

My opinion on Sid has gone up and down over the years. There are have periods of his career where I've been influenced in my opinion by stuff I've read - probably the likes of Meltzer and Martin - or heard, and periods I witnessed, where he was often appalling, like latter day WCW. But overall, I love the fella.

I probably first saw him around 1992 but on some tapes of 1990 or 1991 Worldwide. Like anyone with a brain, I fucking loved Sid's squashes and his entire act, the size, the look, the menacing stare, the mad promos, the talking to himself - he was mesmeric. Anytime I ever think of him, it's almost always that, including the bits of his stuff I saw up to Mania 8. Most of that was just the PPVs, SummerSlam and Survivors 91 and Rumble 92. 

I became a big fan of Ric Flair during the 1992 Rumble as he put in one of the greatest babyface performances of all time, but I was also hugely into Sid. His promo amongst the raft of 30 second promos was stunning. "You are looking at the man who is superior to all. You are looking at the next World Wrestling Federation champion." Through gritted teeth. Pissing sweat. Determination all over his face. A megastar promo in 30 seconds. By the time it came down to the final 3 or 4, I was desperate for him to win, like every single person in the Knickerbocker Arena. Absolutely fuck the Hulk Hogan. He screwed Sid on the best night of his WWF career.

I didn't really know where he went after Mania and the next I heard of him was probably through WWF magazine in 1995. I was back on board long before Madison Square Garden popped for him at Survivors 96. I had a Psycho Sid poster from WWF Magazine or one of the poster mags on my bedroom wall. That SID pyro was the greatest thing in my world back then. Even being associated with the shittest stable in pro-wrestling history didn't stop him being in my undisputed top 2 wrestlers with Bret.

I think the constant disappearances, later the butt of many softball gags, always just added to the mystique and the desire to see him again. The latter half of 1996, into the 97 Rumble, was the peak of him in the WWF and he totally deserved the run. If it had been Vader instead, it would have been a travesty. With hindsight, I don't really like the second title run and the Mania match is crap but at the time, I was just all in on the WWF's chaotic booking at the top. Bret, Shawn, Austin, Sid, Mankind, Vader and Taker might have been all over the place depending on the backstage scrapping, the lost smiles, the serious neck injuries and the rest, but week to week, it was absorbing. Bret might be my guy but Sid telling him "I don't know shit, crybaby" after that epic cage match angle on Raw might be my favourite line in all of pro-wrestling history.  I need to get that on a shirt.

After he disappeared again, Sid turning up in ECW unspoiled (for me) on a random VHS purchase was fucking EPIC. That pop is still one of the best I've ever heard. No mark is too smart to recognise a megastar is in the house. 

Sid's WCW run was highlighted by some terrible stuff. Most of which has lingered in my memory thanks to the books on the subject and the number of times I've read the WCW highlights from the Observer I saved about 20 years ago. The company was the shits and he was dragged into it. I have a fondness for the period though, mainly because it's a very entertaining car crash and I've watched a bunch of clips in the last couple of weeks with a beaming smile on my face of Sid screaming "GOLDBERG. GOLDBERRRRGGG." and "WHY ME? WHY MEEEEEEE?" amongst others. Man, he gave it everything. As long as it wasn't softball season, he was there and giving some terrible material a go.

I remember getting the Sin PPV through a tape trader and watching it even though I knew the outcome. I'd seen grainy pics on the internet and downloaded 857 viruses from Limewire  named "SID BREAKS HIS LEG - GENUINE" or something but wasn't prepared for just how grim viewing it would be, or that he'd never really come back. That still makes me sad.

I enjoyed Ian's post on Twitter about Sid being at home with his grandchildren. I've loved reading the stories and memories for the last couple of weeks. Like most people, I was sorry this place was down so I couldn't read incredible posts like Wand's.

RIP Sid. He truly was the master and the ruler of the world. My heart breaks for his family, especially the grandchildren, who saw the best of the man and have to live with a hole in their lives bigger than the ones those jobbers left in the WCW ring after a Sid powerbomb.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

After he disappeared again, Sid turning up in ECW unspoiled (for me) on a random VHS purchase was fucking EPIC. That pop is still one of the best I've ever heard. No mark is too smart to recognise a megastar is in the house. 

I don’t think I touched on his brief stay in ECW but that’s spot on. One of the things I love about that is that before he showed up there, you just know that if one of the ECW regulars name dropped Sid in a promo, the Philly crowd would’ve almost definitely booed and shat on him because they were so against the ‘big two’. But when he actually turned up, they lost their minds and they were in the palm of his hand and hanging on his every move.

Thinking back to that time, if I could change things I think I’d have been happier seeing Sid just stay in ECW crushing sods in 40 seconds in his jeans every week and avoid him ever going back to WCW for that shite run in 99. But then we’d never have got those little gems like the Goldberg “WHY ME?” thing.

Edited September 2, 2024 by wandshogun09

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

Can believe it's 15 years since I was posting about a potential Sid comeback

 

[air_raid]

This is a fairly rough one. Sid was fantastic.

My first exposure to Sid definitely would have been, as always, courtesy of my mate Simon. He didn't appear in either of the black set or yellow set of trading cards that sandwiched SummerSlam 92, so I have a feeling my first sight of Sid would have been in the trailer for the Mania VIII tape promising "the maniacal Sid Justice" one on one with "the Immortal Hulk Hogan, in what could prove to be Hulk Hogan's farewell match." Straight away, there he was, doing a chokeslam and a powerbomb, even if it was the old "drop to your knees" version. Not soon after seeing that, which convinced me, umm, YES, this bloke looks like he could take The Hulkster, I'll have seen him fighting Undertaker on the UK Rampage tape borrowed from Wendy's video shop. And he even got away with a win on that one - even in the infancy of my fandom, a baddie not losing to Taker by Tombstone pin made them stand out as a big deal. It's no wonder that with my birthday money that year, when I went and bought six new Hasbros, Sid was one of them. Shortly after, he cropped up on Worldwide on ITV when I started to tune in around the time of Sting & Smithers vs "The Masters Of The Powerbomb." Straight away, even if WCW looked very "WWF rip off/retirement home" at the time, Sid Vicious (because they can't call him Justice? But why is The Anvil still The Anvil etc) stood out as someone that would look 100% still at home in THE BIG TIME.

Fast forward to early 1995 and on WWF Mania, I popped like a nutter when Shawn introduced his new bodyguard. "You can it Justice, you can call him Vicious, you can even call him Psycho, but I call him SID." I was a bit confused as to why he wasn't wrestling, but it was great to have Sid back. When he turned on Shawn, I initially confused it (much like the live crowd) as turning him babyface, which I would have been there for. His first match back on TV squashing Aldo Montoya with the most impressive powerbomb I'd seen.. well, it's up there with Lee Scott for squashes I love. I was routinely doing powerbombs on my pillow in impersonation. I was convinced some shenanigans would have him win the big belt in the Lumberjack match with Diesel, and when that didn't come to pass, I was sure (when announced) he was beating Shawn for the ICT at SummerSlam.. which wasn't to be, either. When he and the Kid were getting built up for the tag belts... well, you see where I'm going. I love the fact he decided this time round "Fuck this, I'm going home" when they asked him to job to Bob Holly in New Haven. Thankfully he was driving with Bob at the time so was able to make sure Sparky didn't take it too personally... he did the honours, as asked.

His famed sojourn in ECW and big time run back in the WWF, others have touched upon, so I don't really need to in detail, except to say that seeing him twat Shawn for the belt on the Wednesday knowing I was seeing it live on the Friday was brilliant. I still remember Vince hyping up Sid "will now face Bret "the Hitman" Hart" (at In Your House) before a special JR dub came on saying "But will Sycho Sid even be champion (by In Your House)" because he was wrestling Austin in London and Farooq in Birmingham. I've touched on the experience before ;
 

On 8/26/2022 at 6:32 AM, air_raid said:

A PERSONAL REPORT
I went to the NEC show a mere two nights after Survivor Series aired on delay on Sky Sports. Many will claim they felt short changed by how long Sid vs Farooq didn't go, but as someone over the moon that the reign of the Boy Toy had been terminated, I pretty much only wanted to see Sid come out with the belt and do a powerbomb so I was pretty happy, and Bret vs Mankind and Taker vs Vader were both excellent so it was 100% satisfaction for me.

There's a review here which includes a photo of the program/calendar which I also bought ;
https://www.angelfire.com/wrestling3/ukmania/2ndShow.html

Worth pointing out inaccuracies ; Undertaker won after a chokeslam, he did NOT Tombstone Vader, which was one of the most incredible things I ever saw when he managed it on Raw in the build to Canadian Stampede, and again at the PPV. Secondly, Sid powerbombed Farooq, he didn't go home with a chokeslam.

… unfortunately, that run came crashing down right as they wanted him wrestling Vader at SummerSlam 97 because he was still suffering from the very real car accident. Having been "injured" a few times, they told him to downsize his deal or they'd stop paying him, so he told them to fuck off. Then it turned out he really did need the surgery after all, but it was "the Sid that cried wolf".

Sid ruled. His WCW run was derided a little because "The Millennium Man" was a weak moniker for someone perceived to be a WWF cast off, and it didn't end well, but on occasion it was still fun seeing him powerbomb people. Even if relieving Ted Bundy of the US title clean at Fall Brawl 99 was unbelievably short sighted and made me furious at the time.

Some people think wrestling is about MOVEZ or worse, fancy sequences. It isn't. It's about making people give a shit and make noise. It needs more Sids.

Edited September 2, 2024 by air_raid
Suddenly I'm Dominant

[gmoney]

2 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

My opinion on Sid has gone up and down over the years. There are have periods of his career where I've been influenced in my opinion by stuff I've read - probably the likes of Meltzer and Martin - or heard, and periods I witnessed, where he was often appalling, like latter day WCW. But overall, I love the fella.

I think one of the reasons he was one of my favourites is I enjoyed him whether or not he was involved in something good or bad. As others have written about brilliantly, he was a superb intimidating monster. But Sid could also be really, really shit sometimes. He was in some terrible storylines in WCW, and even then he jumped off the screen, was hilarious and magnetic. I loved the daft Streak story especially, and his lumbering kicks and punches are a guilty pleasure.

 

[ReturnOfTheMack]

5 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

 Like anyone with a brain

Unfortunately, I only have half the brain

Big Sid, loved him every time he appeared. He just had *it*

[Browser Brady]

Re: his WCW run in 1999.

 

if memory serves me correct his feud and buildup to his match with Goldberg was shockingly bad but their match at Halloween Havoc 99was actually quite good and one of the rare times Sid got colour. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

One weird thing I always wondered about Sid, particularly during his second WWE run and 3rd WCW run was how and why he was suddenly coming to the ring absolutely drenched in sweat/water when he never used to during his earlier runs. Was he chilling in a dressing room with a heater turned up to max? Was he just that intense that he done a super extensive workout pre match? Whatever it was it was a scary but impressive sight

[Surf Digby]

Every kid I knew at school that watched wrestling loved Sid. He was like a create-a-wrestler where you keep the default appearance, but just increase his size and put power and strength to maximum.
I was in a WWF-only house, so had no idea what was going on in WCW, but the buzz around school that Sid Vicious was coming to WWF was treated like some major event, so when I first saw him, just looking fucking huge, I was an instant fan.

I was never much of a Hogan fan as a kid, partially because I thought he had a weirdly proportioned physique, whereas Sid was far better proportioned and with better definition.

[SaitoRyo]

Few wrestlers in the history of the business have ever had the level of 'having it' that Sid had.

The size, the look, the weird charisma and an understanding of his character/who he was. He just had it. There aren't a million great Sid matches, but I think I'd sooner watch The Master and Ruler of the World destroy some geek than any modern five-star classic, simply because of his presence and the feeling that you knew shit was on when he made his entrance.

Also, having watched a bunch of people interviewed Sid this past week, it strikes me how much people liked and respected him. Almost everyone basically said he was a great guy that had an incredible presence about him. Even people he had issues with in the past, like Arn Anderson, said he looked and acted the part and was a big attraction. 

He got criticised in the past for enjoying softball and being flaky, but Sid did it on his own terms and was a main event guy for most of the 90s. He obviously wasn't perfect and had some notable run-ins with wrestlers and promoters over the years, but overall he seemed like a really decent, surprisingly normal guy. 

It's also heartening that, though he died relatively young, he got to live the last years of his life watching his family grow and enjoyed being a father and grandfather while having stuff going on outside of the business. 

Get him in the Hall of Fame. 

[Arch Stanton]

I can't believe he isn't in the HoF, how has that happened?! I had just assumed he was on good terms with WWE ever since he made that appearance back in 2012, but was that not the case?

[SaitoRyo]

2 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

I can't believe he isn't in the HoF, how has that happened?! I had just assumed he was on good terms with WWE ever since he made that appearance back in 2012, but was that not the case?

Sid gave an interview about a month ago where he said he hoped to get in and felt he had a better chance now that Vince is gone and HHH is in charge. He'd said in the past how he feels Vince's dislike for him had prevented it from happening.

He was under a WWE Legends Deal, as far as I'm aware, and was even pitching to come in and be a manager for someone or guest coach and do promo classes at the PC.

They need to start putting these guys in the HOF while they're alive and actively want to do it. The same thing happened with Vader.

[Chili]

What a diamond of a bloke it turns out Big Sidney was away from the business. It's the same lad he had as his manager as a one-off on a 2000 episode of Nitro as well.

 

[JakeRobertsParoleOfficer]

By all accounts and sources Sid was absolutely amazing with the kid fans backstage and would make  sure they got all the wrestlers autographs and were looked after.

Watched his shoots again the other days and whilst I don't agree with the "we prided ourselves on sending jobbers to the hospital" bit....which I think is unprofessional and callous he always came across as intelligent, honest, and straight shooter!

Never once during his interviews did I think he was lieing or telling BS...just comes across as a guy without agenda.

His recounts in every shoot are always identical as well, so it's either legit (at least from his point of view) or he has a great memory for lies.

Whilst it's tragic he went so early, it looks like he's spent the best part of his 50s and early 60s enjoying his family and being a Dad/Grandad...not crippling himself in sports gyms, letting himself down publicly or still chasing his youth to dwindling returns like so many have done in the industry.

 

 

 

[Merzbow]

Our Sid was technically on Big Brother, it's only a few minutes long but it's great to see family man Sid, hope he and his son got along better in the subsequent years after this.